Paul McCartney On Drugs

The Beatles titan recently claimed, allegedly during a talk with friend and self-proclaimed "king of bitter divorces" Alec Baldwin a few days ago, that he has grown physically sick from the latest charges by his estranged wife in their divorce proceedings. (Her latest claim is that he stole paintings by Picasso and Renoir from their once-shared lodge.) But, let us revisit for a moment one of the more interesting charges leveled by Heather against Paul, shall we? Let us return to the drugs.

In college in the late 1970s, I had a girlfriend from The Hamptons who had been the baby sitter for Paul and Linda McCartney. (Paul and Linda and their children lived in that elegant Long Island suburb through most of the 1970s). Lizzie hated babysitting for the McCartneys because they were slobs (messy house) and because there were "drugs all over the place," right out in the open where theoretically one or all of their four young children could get at them. When I questioned Liz more closely about the drugs, she mentioned white powders, mushrooms and (no surprise) marijuana.

Lizzie detested drugs back then, because she was worshiping a poet named Robert Bly, and Robert Bly hated drugs. But I must admit, for me, this tidbit added substantially to Beatle Paul's always questionable hipster cred.

In the recent divorce case between Paul and his anti-landmine activist soon-to-be ex-wife Heather Mills McCartney, Heather filed a court statement, according to the British tabloid press, stating that McCartney had attacked her with a broken wine glass, and that he used illegal drugs and drank to excess.

I'm in no position to comment on any propensity Sir Paul may have towards violence, although a biography written by the tabloidesque rock writer Christopher Sandford promises, in a synopsis on Amazon.com, that "McCartney is a tale of self-destruction, violence and epic excess." (Imagine that. Paul McCartney: the Great Beast.) And McCartney himself has made clear that he drinks heavily when he's depressed (after the breakup of the Beatles in 1970, after the death of his first wife Linda, and while he toured for his hardest rocking solo album, "Run Devil Run" in 1999).

But when it comes to Macca and drugs, there is quite a bit more to talk about.

Bob Dylan turns The Beatles on to marijuana. He is shocked to discover that they're pot virgins.

April 1965

John Lennon and George Harrison are slipped LSD at a dinner party thrown for them by their dentist. McCartney is elsewhere.

1966

McCartney becomes the last Beatle to try LSD

1967

McCartney is turned on to cocaine by Robert Fraser, an art dealer and a central figure in the London counterculture, who was art director for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover (the image itself was done by Peter Blake). He uses cocaine a bit during his work on Sgt. Peppers, although he apparently doesn't share it around with his mates. Cocaine is very obscure in 1967 and doesn't become second nature to rock stars ’til around 1969.

Spring, 1967

McCartney is the first Beatle and the first major figure in rock to admit that he and the other Beatles had taken LSD. While this would seem to have been obvious to anybody who had been listening to their recent recordings, the great majority of people were way more clueless than they even are now and so the admission stirs up quite a bit of controversy. Lennon is miffed that McCartney came out of the closet as an acid head first.

June, 1967

In Life magazine, McCartney describes himself as "deeply committed to the possibilities of LSD as a universal cure-all."

July 24, 1967

All four Beatles sign a petition published in The Times of London calling for decriminalization of Marijuana. Sir Francis Crick and Francis Huxley also sign the petition. The Beatles also pay for the ad.

1972

Paul and Linda McCartney are busted for smuggling hashish into Sweden. He pays a $2,000 fine.

1973

McCartney is busted for growing marijuana on his farm in Scotland. He is fined the equivalent of $240.

McCartney visits John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, who are living together in L.A. while Lennon produces Nilsson's album, "Pussy Cats." A bleary-eyed Nilsson offers McCartney some PCP. Paul asks, "Is it fun?" "No," Nilsson replied. So McCartney passes on the PCP.

1974

According to a book written by May Pang called Loving John: The Untold Story about the time she spent as John Lennon's girlfriend, John Lennon and Paul McCartney drop acid together one day in New York City in 1974 and decide to go visit David Bowie.

Bowie has just received the final mix of his latest album, Young Americans which includes two songs that John Lennon worked on. One was a reworking of The Beatles song, "Across the Universe," and the other was to become Bowie's first number one hit, "Fame," co-written with Lennon. Bowie proudly plays the new album for his two Beatles heroes and they're impressed. And so he plays it again. And again. And again. Eventually, McCartney excuses himself and bolts out the door, Lennon following quickly behind. Bowie's drug of choice in the mid-1970s might explain his obsessiveness that day: mountains of cocaine.

An interesting side note: In The Beatles version of "Across The Universe", the line "nothing's gonna change my world" comes across as a sort of cosmic meditation on the divine perfection of the eternal now. In Bowie's version, the same line becomes an expression of terrified desperation. This might be interpreted as the difference between psychedelics and coke, as well as the difference between the 60s and the 70s.

1975

Linda McCartney is busted for possession of marijuana in Los Angeles, but charges are dropped.

Sometime around 1976-77

I can't find the source so this is from memory, but at some point the McCartneys hosted a party for the original cast of Saturday Night Live. Mescaline was on the menu, according to one of the many SNL histories.

Late 70s

John Lennon, Paul McCartney and wives are sitting around Lennon and Ono's apartment one Saturday night getting stoned on weed and watching SNL, when Lorne Michaels does one of his occasional routines offering The Beatles a ridiculously small amount of cash ($3,200) to reunite. They briefly consider heading down to the show as a lark to claim half of the money, but they're too stoned to deal with it.

January 16, 1980

McCartney famously busted in Japan at the start of a planned tour with Wings with approximately half-a-pound of marijuana in his suitcase. He spends ten days in prison in Japan before being released and deported. After his release, he promises to quit but also argues that it is less harmful than Valium or alcohol. He also later comments that he just couldn't leave the pot behind because "it was such good stuff."

1984

Paul and Linda McCartney busted in Barbados for possession of marijuana. Several days later, Linda is busted again flying into Heathrow Airport in London with marijuana.

1997

McCartney, now a Knight of the British Empire, tells Musician magazine, "I support decriminalization. People are smoking pot anyway and to make them criminal is wrong."

September 22, 1999

At an after-party for a celebration/performance for McCartney's new album, Run Devil Run, held at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, McCartney is observed smoking vast quantities of weed with Woody Harrelson and Laurence Fishburne. McCartney's publicist gives a photo of the red-eyed trio to High Times magazine and encourages them to publish it. High Times published the photo under the heading, "The Three Stoners."

June 22, 2000

McCartney delivers a keynote speech in England on "Drug Awareness Day" about "heightening parental awareness to drug misuse, and to outline Government activity in this area." Rank hypocrisy? In fairness to Sir Paul, the talk repeatedly uses the term "misuse" and singles out heroin and cocaine as "the drugs that cause the greatest harm."

2004

In a prime example of the media's tendency to recycle old news as though it were fresh news, the British press goes wild with headlines like "Sir Paul Admits He Used Drugs!" The articles quote from an interview McCartney gives to "Uncut" magazine. He disclosed that he once smoked heroin, but didn't get high. He says that "Got to Get You Into My Life," off of the Revolver album was about pot and that the hit single, "Day Tripper" was about acid. He also admits the obvious, that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was about LSD, something the song's main author, John Lennon, always denied. While he tells the magazine that he's grown out of using drugs, he also tells them he "was flattered when he was recently invited by a group of Los Angeles teenagers to share their marijuana." McCartney was quoted as saying, "To me, it's a huge compliment that a bunch of kids think I might be up to smoke a bit of dope with them."

Other McCartney Fun Facts

McCartney was always uptight that everyone considered Lennon, not to mention Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, a lot hipper than him. Thus, he was known to brag, particularly on the pages of Rolling Stone, about being first to try this and that. It was on the pages of Rolling Stone that he first let it be known that he was the first Beatle to try cocaine, and that he came close to cashing it in on unspecified drugs on a few occasions. "I've seen my soul get up and walk across the floor a couple of times." He also claimed in the mag that he gave Mick Jagger his first taste of marijuana. Sir Jagger vociferously denied the claim, saying that the Stones smoked weed long before The Beatles did (nyah nyah!).

Continuing on the Paul-is-hipper-than-you-think theme, McCartney was the Beatle who befriended ultra-hipster hero William S. Burroughs when he settled in London during the late 1960s. McCartney supplied Burroughs with tape equipment to experiment with his cutup method.

McCartney was also a lifelong friend with Beat/counterculture poet Allen Ginsberg. He performed, along with Philip Glass, on Allen Ginsberg's 1996 CD release, "Ballad of the Skeletons."

Paul and Linda McCartney were financial supporters of the 25th and 30th anniversary celebrations of "The Summer of Love." The celebration of psychedelic counterculture was organized by their long-time friend Chet Helms and took place in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

However much McCartney may like his altered states, particularly those derived from cannabis consumption, direct drug references are rare and allusions are subject to debate and interpretation. Nevertheless, aside from the songs mentioned earlier, "Got To Get You Into My Life" and "Day Tripper," I present a few McCartney lyrics that reference drugs, or seem like they probably reference drugs.

I'm Looking Through You
1965, Rubber Soul
Ripped on weed, McCartney sees deeply into his then girlfriend, model Jane Asher, and decides she's a phony. This story has been told by McCartney himself.

Yellow Submarine
1966, Revolver
On the surface, a child's rhyme; but the song was taken as a winking assertion of hippie, psychedelic, drop out escape from the dreary mainstream culture into the upcoming party utopia. It was even adapted by some new left activists as a theme song for those seeking an alternative culture.

Fixing A Hole
1967, Sgt. Peppers
Taken by some to be a heroin song (fixing being a term used for shooting up], but also works as a contemplative pothead song or, for that matter, a plain old contemplative person's song. Another song lyric with a drop out vibe.

Lovely Rita
1967, Sgt. Peppers
"When are you free to take some tea with me?" George Harrison has commented that The Beatles frequently used tea as a pseudonym for pot. On the other hand, they were Limeys, so maybe tea is just tea.

A Day In The Life
1967, Sgt Peppers
"Found my way upstairs and had a smoke and somebody spoke and I went into a dream." Probably not a ciggie, but you never know.

Penny Lane
1968, Magical Mystery Tour
"The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray." Hey, wouldn't a florist be selling poppies from a tray? In England, heroin was medicalized and made available to addicts, who were given injections by nurses. Also, "Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes." George Harrison grew up in a suburb near this street, Penny Lane. I recall a story about how George went back there on acid to grok it in all its weirdness. This may have inspired Paul's song.

Get Back
1970, Let It Be
"Jo Jo left her home in Tuscon Arizona for some California grass." Is the grass just grass? What, she couldn't find any grass in Tucson?

Three Legs
1971, Ram
"When I fly above the clouds, when I fly above the crowds, you could knock me down with a feather."

Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
1971, Ram
"Hands across the water. Heads across the sky." Ahh, peace and drugs in the early seventies. References to heads in the late sixties and early seventies were pretty much understood to mean psychedelic drug heads.

C Moon
1973, Red Rose Speedway
"I'd never get to heaven if I filled my head with glue. What's it all to you?" A rejection of a bad high, and yet, ain't nobody's business but his own.

Hi Hi Hi
1973, Red Rose Speedway
This one is blatant and should have been titled High High High. He's "gonna get high high high." Mediocre song, though.

Band On The Run
1973, Band on the Run
Not about drugs, but about being busted for drugs and Macca's concerns about being "stuck inside these four walls, sent away for ever.'

Rock Show
1975, Venus and Mars
"The tension mounts you score an ounce ole!"

Medicine Jar
1975, Venus and Mars
McCartney's first anti-hard drug song for Wings. Wings guitarist, Jimmy McCulloch, had an ongoing problem with heavy drugs, and eventually died from a heroin overdose. It's generally thought that McCartney wrote these lyrics trying to challenge and discourage his behavior. "Dead on your feet, you won't get far if you keep on putting your hand in the medicine jar."

Wino Junko
1976, At The Speed Of Sound
Apparently, McCartney continued to preach it to brother McCulloch. "Pill freak spring a leak you can't say no."

The Song We Were Singing
1997, Flaming Pie
Apparently a bit of misty nostalgia for old-fashioned psychedelic philosophizing and The Beatles heyday, which also seems to permeate the entire album. "For a while, we could sit, smoke a pipe. And discuss all the vast intricacies of life... Take a sip, see the world through a glass and speculate about the cosmic solution."

Flaming Pie
1997, Flaming Pie
"I took my brains out and stretched 'em on a rack. Now I'm not so sure I'm ever gonna get 'em back... Go ahead, have a vision."

Final Thoughts from Sir Paul

So there you have it. The world's most complete roundup of Paul McCartney's relationship with drugs over the years. Does it matter? What does it mean? Let's give Sir Paul the last word, from his as-told-to 1997 biography Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, co-written with Barry Miles (Miles has also written bios of Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Charles Bukowski):

In today's climate, I hate to talk about drugs because it's not the same. You have someone jumping on your head the minute you say anything, so I've taken to not trying to give my point of view unless someone really very much asks for it. Because I think the "just say no" mentality is so crazed. I saw a thing in a women's magazine the other day: "He smokes cannabis, what am I to do. He laughs it off when I try to tell him, he says it's not really harmful..." Of course, you're half hoping the advice will be, "well, you know it's not that harmful; if you love him, if you talk to him about it, tell him maybe he should keep it in the garden shed or something," you know, a reasonable point of view. But of course it was, "No no, all drugs are bad. All drugs are bad. Librium's good, Valium's good, ciggies are good, vodka's good. But cannabis, oooh." I hate that unreasoned attitude. I really can't believe it's thirty years since the sixties. I find it staggering. It's like the future, the sixties, the sixties to me, it hasn't happened. I feel like the sixties are about to arrive. And we're in some sort of time warp and it's still going to happen.

147 thoughts to “Paul McCartney On Drugs”

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hey Pat Riley, do you honestly believe that Paul gave up smoking for one moment? isn’t that one of the arguments on Heather Hills side, that he wouldn’t give it up? the guy’s been smoking for 43 years, he’s not going to stop now. he just doesn’t admit to it anymore. it wouldn’t be good for his image right now with the divorce and a child’s custody at stake and all. and don’t you know John Hammel, his assistant, carries the dope with the guitars. it’s his job. also, Band On The Run is just as focused as Chaos and he was probably smoking his brains out on both sessions. McCartney can be very focused when he is driven. just the fact that he’s facing a new generation is enough to drive him to try and prove himself and that’s exactly what he did with Chaos. not to mention that he was facing being 64. he had a lot to prove to himself. this is a man who is working hard at staying young. he’s doing a good job at it too. he was trying to make a good record and it had nothing to do with being not being stoned.

and marijuana is not what makes a bad McCartney album, it’s complacency. you know, the farm and all that can probably make you lazy. but when he’s driven he makes the best music, regardless of whether or not he’s had a smoke. he probably focuses better when he’s stoned. i know i do.

the irony about it is, there is nothing wrong with it. people have been doing marijuana for centuries. it’s in our world. it grows. it’s part of our lives. it’s far much less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes or trans fat or sugar. let it grow.

LOL. I found this site from a google search. Such a laugh. Paul McCartney is human. Period. As are we all. I believe he said the other day on television, that he was 15 and John 16 when they lost their mothers. Times were different back then. There was the Vietnam War, when we all learned we were collateral. There were the big rock halls, the groupies, a tour a week from some band. I worked in one of the clubs. Nothing like helping drag a rock star off stage after he has puked all over his grand piano (no names here). Surely, the woman knew Paul drank and smoked weed before she crawled into his bed and life. Heather resembles Linda. I am sure Paul was beside himself with the death of Linda. As an aging, former hippie, I have come to a place in life where I dread the loss of my mother. I know it will be much worse than the loss of my father who was my love. My heart goes out to anyone to lose a parent, much less the love of your life. This man stood by and supported and watched, helplessly, as the love of his life died from breast cancer. All of his money was unable to change the outcome of her illness. The word “cancer” strikes a fear in the heart of the patient and their family that cannot be understood by anyone who has not been there. Cancer is the great “equalizer”. Unless you have had to do this do not judge the man. He has had a lot of good times and a lot of bad times. I am sure he drinks, as did my dad and many other dads and as did I for many years. I imagine that, in the end, with money or not, we all have to come to terms with being human. I think Paul might finally be there. I believe he is 64, though, as there was a joke on television in his interview about “will you still love me when I’m 64” and of course the answer is a resounding “YES” we do. But, even with all the bad press, the one thing that renewed my interest was hearing him talk about his 3 year old coming running into the room dancing as he was teaching himself to play mandolin. Sounds like there is still some Joy in his life after all he has survived. And he is a survivor, there is no doubt.

After having seen Sir Paul live in concert a couple of years ago i was enthralled to see that he could still rock with the best music being released anywhere and that he had that magic that attracted young people in the 60’s which i followed somewhat religiously. i cant relate to readers how infatuated that the audience is when he or any of the other former Beatles (only one other now) put out their incomparable brand of originality-that goes for the show as a whole- and through Pauls solo albums we continually get flavor of his originality in something that lasts longer than how long the music is actually played.

this just SUCKS.paul has given so much happiness to millions,he’s a rocker that was able to maintain a 30year monogomous relationship to his wife,his children adore him…perhaps there are drug references in some lyrics but i can tell you this-i’ve worshiped the beatles and paul since my formative years and i have NEVER,I MEAN NEVER used ,or even seen drugs (except pot of course). the message in the lyrics is positive and envokes happiness for the most part. all creative people will be tempted to expand their creativity…some with drugs,alcohol,exercise,whatever. why do you care to try to demonize his reputation…believe me-if he was an angry,addicted,abusive person we’d know long ago,and he certainly wouldn’t be around at 65(making fabulous music )and still on th charts. he’s an admirable person all-around.how many can say the same at 65? LEAVE THE GENIUS ALONE.

I THINK THAT ALL OF YOU BASHING PAUL NEED TO SERIOSLY TAKE A WALK OFF OF A CLIFF. PAUL MCCARTNEY IS A HUMAN BEING AND SO ARE YOU ALL! IN YOUR FACES! IT DOESNT MAKE HIM A BAD PERSON BECAUSE HE DID DRUGS! HE IS A WONDERFUL MAN AND FATHER AND DOESNT DESERVE TO BE BASHED THAT WAY! WHO CARES IF HE WAS ON DRUGS! HALF OF YOU PEOPLE DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. GET LIVES. SERIOSLY.

John and Paul were my heroes. They taught me how to sing, they taught me rock ‘n’ roll. I was obsessed with The Beatles and still am, I suppose. Gee, there were drugs in the 60’s and 70’s and Paul did some, too? Goll-all-lee! You don’t say?. Well, Paul McCartney is one of the most underrated bass players of all time (check out the bass on “Paperback Writer”, “Rain”, “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide, Except for Me and My Monkey”, “Come Together”: I could go on and on), and his song writing and John’s set the standard by which all pop music will forever be measured. Not to mention he is one of the most brilliant vocalists of all time-remember the Grammy’s when he sang “Helter Skelter”? It blew everybody else of the stage. Considering that millions upon millions of people experimented and used drugs in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, and beyond, what is so surprising or unusual about Sir Paul doing it? He always admitted he had some “herbal jazz cigarettes” for his smoking, and so what of it? The same “Just Say No” phonies get goosed to the gills on alcohol, alcohol cause far more traffic deaths in one year around the world than pot ever will. Cigarettes kill hundreds of thousands every year and yet cigarettes, a proven health hazard, are legal. The hypocrisy of the conservative, Post-Reagan world is unbelievable. The double standard is absurd. Smoke a doobie, Sir Paul. and call me, I’d love to join ya!

Ha- interesting, but flawed. I’ve always wanted to makea “McCartney Stoner Song Mix Tape” CD. Macca HAD to be thinking of the “heads” when he placed ditties on his albums-(and I’m not just talking about lyrical references- many instrumentals are “head music”- almost everyone had one: McCartney-Valentine Day, Hot As Sun, Glasses, Kreen-Akrore (what the hell does THAT mean, anyway, Paul ?) RAM-Monkberry Moon Delight, Smile Away is a classic silly song that must be about being stoned, “I met a friend of mine and he did say, “man I can smell your teeth a mile away !”
WILD LIFE- had all those “Link” instrumentals, including letting the Mumbo Jam tape run out at the end of the lp…”Mrs Vanderbildt” off Band On The Run- Ho Hey Ho…with all the weird laughter at the end…and “Picasso’s Last Word’s”, beautiful and brilliant- but went all weird at the end…smell smoke there, too. What about LOUP: First Indian On The Moon, from RED ROSE SPEEDWAY ? Tell me that ain’t a head song. Medicine Jar, Spirits Of Ancient Egypt, and the title song(s) from Venus & Mars (esp pt 2), Wino Junko on SPEED of Sound- is that a drug dealer or a doorman on the insert drawing ? I still wonder. “Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link” and “Morse Moose & The Grey Goose” on London Town ? What were they doing on that boat in 1977-78 ? Being stoned musicians in the 1970’s. BACK TO THE EGG had the intro song, “Reception” to set the pace for someone that blazed a J before putting the record on, and “The Broadcast” might have been artsy, but was heady as well.
My Fave, though is from McCartney II: “Darkroom”- I’d like other’s comments on that track- I’ll leave it with “Tug Of War”, because that was the point I really stopped caring so much about Paul, and more about The Ramones. That album had that psycedelic funk song, “What’s That You’re Doin’ ?” the GOOD track he did with Stevie Wonder, He and Carl Perkins MIGHT have been smokin’ Pauls Weed during the “Get It” session…and Perkins’ laughter ebbs into the “Be What You See” link….
That’s my Mix Tape there.
Bruce 13

Too bad the author of the article made so many mistakes. Many people reading it will think it is the gospel truth and it isn’t. Yes, I admit that I wish that Paul had never taken drugs, but that is his private life and who are we to judge. EVERYBODY has some hang ups in life. Like many of you who responded have said, Paul is a genius. He has given all of us so many wonderful songs for memories. I can’t imagine a world without Paul. I have grown up with his songs and he has been a huge part of my life for over 40 years. He brings a smile to my face that NO ONE else can do. I just wish that all of us who love him could get together and do something fantastic for him to show him how much we care for him. Most of us will never even write ONE great song in our lives, let alone hundreds like Paul. I think history will be good to Paul and he will down in history as the BEST !!!

I just want to romp around with Paul. He’ s been a soulmate forever. When I was ten (1965) I’d pretend we were a family and fishing together, talking and life was good. I’ve followed him off and on as he happens to just show up, in the oddest of times, and I know we’d have a grand time together. Love you Paul and soo understand what a difficult time this is. Been seperated for 2 yrs. after a 23 yr. marraige. Still younger than you!! Yes, I loved you when you were 64. Not a nut, just a person who gets it and would love to be a ‘friend’, that’s all. Was having a pedicure when all my friends called me saying they’d heard on the news that you and Heather had split. All I could think about was Linda and that somehow she had orchestrated this. Would love to meet you sometime. L
Be happy. be safe! Always your soulmate.

Paul I’m not a pot smoker but my adult children are and I would rather them smoke pot than drink alchol or any other drug. I love watching your love story on tv you had a wonderful wife and I think if smoking pot helps you get over your grief then who are we to judge a fan

Drugs – Greek word: Pharmakia…English rendering: Pharmacy
Definition of Greeek word Pharmakia: Sorcery
Webster’s Definiton of Sorcery: The use of power gained from the assistance or control of evil spirits.

Listen here, anyone who can just sit here and dog the Mccartney’s after everything they have done..you have NO soul!
Paul and Linda both lead an amazing life full of hope and compassion. They changed the way so many people think for the better. How dare you make these accusations on Paul! He is the most inspirational and epic man alive! And about the drugs, need we all understand that the ’70’s was a TOTALLY different time! Not saying drugs are okay, because they aren’t but it was just something almost everyone did. Paul is AWESOME! and so is he wife linda, rest in peace.

Someone asked if it was Come Together which led Dylan to introduce the Beatles to pot. It was definitely I Want to Hold Your Hand, because he thought they were saying “I get high” instead of “I can’t hide.”

As for A Day in the Life:

Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

He used to sit on the second floor of double decker buses while going to school. He’d often start to smoke a cigarette and zone out while his friends talked to him. I know how it sounds like it could be, but it’s not a drug reference.

As someone said, the poppies in Penny Lane are really just poppies. I don’t know about George, but John and Paul used to meet to catch a bus at Penny Lane. I have never heard this story where George went back to Penny Lane on acid. But I have heard that the Beatles were always weary to return to Liverpool except for visiting family.

And Get Back… Linda was living in Tuscon. Tuscon is considerable more desert-y than parts of California. I don’t think it has to do with pot here.

Paul didn’t write Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. John did, and he always maintained that it was inspired by his son’s painting and Alice in Wonderland. I don’t really care what Paul has come out recently to say about this song; it was not his. Even if it were about LSD, I don’t think John would lie about that.

But even if these are drug references, what does it matter? Paul McCartney makes great music. Him taking drugs is his own matter. Plus, he can write about whatever he wants. Everyone has their own responsibility concerning drugs. If his drug references and stuff offend you, then stop listening to his music and ignore the news you hear about him!

My reply is who cares? How many musicians, actors and performers use
recreational drugs? MANY! Clearly Paul does not misuse them, he does not sell them, and it is ridiculous to villify him or to let Heather Mills villify him.

Clearly, Linda who ws married to the man for decades did not have the claims that Heather has. Heather tried to control him, tried to tell him what to do, what charities to support, what to do with his money, and clearly that was a no no. Who does she think she is anyway? She needs to keep your mouth shut and move on.

ok Kim.. just to put you straight on a few things. as far as Pauls own words goes, he didn’t do just “Recreational” drugs, he OD’d a few times nearly.. from my own experiance, thats a little more than just recreational..
As for Heather Mills, let me guess.. you read The Sun or The Mirror or one of those tabloid tats right?? i suggest you google the exact case that Heather Mills is bringing because she only brought up the subject of drugs with Paul once, and that was in the violent behavior part of the divorce. She’s been vicitmised and plagued by the tabloid media, and she has no privacy because of it. People need to start thinking about what they are told by Auntie Beeb and ITV, and the tabs.. most of the time they are lying their asses off.
Heather Mills did nothing in her life thats been worth the stuff she’s had to put up with, and people like you with your opinions based on lies told by the media are the ones that need to keep your mouths shut and move on.
Look around, its a celeb culture. We’re more into what our fav celeb is doing or has done, rather than our own friends and family. We, as a nation, spend more on tabloid tat and gossip than we do on our own families in a year. Sad isn’t it?? Leave Mills and Macca to sort it out themselves, and lets get on with our own lives and stop worrying about our celebs all the time.

Before i forget.. look at the origins of most of the stories told by the news… Macca isn’t a saint ya know.. he shouldn’t have had that knighthood in the first place..

Nicely put Sgt Pepper-maybe suggest that to Heather. Oh no, too late. She’s already booked herself on every chat show going in the UK to put her side of the story, as well as selling herself on the US media. I’m no fan of Macca, but I must say he comes out of this with far more dignity.

Very well written. I read the whole thing, but I need to correct one of your points. It was Bob Dylan who turned the Beatles onto pot.
I must admit that anyone who doesn’t think that all musicians are deeply involved in drugs -as are all politicians- needs to pull their head out….
LSD was a social engineering drug that our government wanted to use for mind control. Kesey and others helped sneak it into the mainstream and voila! The 60’s. It is a very useful drug for the first few times it is ingested and then it just becomes a bad habit. Cocaine serves no use whatsoever. Alcohol is the worst. Pot is the best. Wait, I can’t remember was it pot…….? It’s all good. The man can be a beast for all I care. His music has healed our souls thus healed the planet.

I love Paul McCartney- always will. I grew up listening to him. Frankly, I admire how he has been able to function through the years with or without drugs while many musicians have fallen by the way side. I hope one day before I die I can meet him in person and talk about things. Some of what is written here is surprisingly unknown to me. The only real bust I remember was the Japan one. All the others were kept quietly away from the media.

Two articles should be read before one condems a drug user. one is “Origins of Addtion – the Adverse Childhood Experience Study” by Dr. Vincent J. Felitti ,which is also in the Permanente Journal. It says all addictionns, from obesity all the way up to heroin arer caused by adversee shilchood experiences.

In “Religion and Psychoative Drugs An Entheogen Chrestomathy.

” the premis is put forth that the reasons why the people go to drugs is because they are looking for God. In the introduction it is written:
Children of a future age
Reading this indignant page
Know that in a former time
A path to God was thought a crime.

However, this particular article does not suggest marijauana being useful for such a purpose.

It is also interesting to note here that tobacco aids schizophrenics, bipolars, post traumatic stress syndrome, panic disorder, depression, ADD, ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome, Alzeimer’s, and Parkinson’s (not to mention sepsis, ulceerative colitis and even asthma.) Many people keep their mental illnesses in check by smoking tobacco.And as for pot, they are finding it useful in bipolars.

Sir Paul’s mother died when he was 14. That’s an adverse childood experience. And he could have, down deep, been looking for God.

About the link to Drug Awareness Day speech…is that the right “Mr McCartney?” The person giving the speech describes himself as a minister of the government, and I don’t think he’s ever held such a post… nor would Macca ever deliver such a stupefyingly boring, square speech. Not every Mr McCartney is the one we know and love!

okay, idk if you realized this…. but With a little help from my friends… was written by John. and Flaming Pie was written about Maureen Cox who was Ringo’s ex wife. She died in 1994. Paul knew her very well.

Lovely Rita was based of a real girl named RITA.

believe it or not, if you don’t pick apart every little tiny piece of their music you might actually enjoy it and forget that they took drugs.

And if people stopped trying to get every glimpse of his life so they can just put him in the papers or put him in websites like this… then maybe the good music would come back to this world. Just honor the man for what he was, an amazing artist who changed people’s lives. He changed mine.

And honestly, if you get the chance to smoke pot with Paul McCartney and instead you write an article about his drug use… your a looser not to take that opportunity.

So btw, if you wanted to do a beatles drug reference on a blog your best choice should have been John. I have an interview from rolling stones that states John saying he took a ton of drugs. He said he must have literally gone on a thousand trips.

Picking apart all of their songs…. isn’t going to do anything but ruin their music for other people who are very much against drugs.

Paul McCartney is someone that should be allowed to take drugs lol.
Hey, if you wrote what was considered the best song of the CENTURY (yesterday) people would be defending you. But sorry, you didn’t change people’s lives enough with this article

I just stumbled this and it’s full of terrible information, I read along until you sited Geoffrey Giuliano as a source. Everyone knows he is a bottom feeding liar who makes things up to sell his fake biographies as fact.

I don’t know how much time you spent on this but, it’s clear you know nothing about the Beatles much at all. No one interested in facts sites Geoffrey Giuliano. There are other places you posted as fact things which are nothing more than rumor and bullshit.

Paul McCartney is a great example to the youth of today for so many other reasons, from his tough stance on environmentalism through to the responsible way that he handled the ultra high profile divorce, its just a shame that so many people still fixate on this part of his life! What he does in his personal and private time should remain just that. Personal and Private.

Paul McCartney, and John Lennon are my idols. I am an aspiring guitarist, and I want to be in band just like these guys. Then when I read this article, a lot changed. Sure they were on drugs and that is something that none of us can forget, but that was the 60s for ya. Drugs was the culture. They were popular. People didn’t know they were bad. They just liked the high. Everybody was doing it. Sure this article made me sort of hate them. But you have to remember the 60s was just an era to be remembered for the Beatles, and how bad drugs are.

I DO THINK SIR PAUL IS BEING CRITICIZED ENTIRELY TO MUCH! I MEAN THIS DUDE IS A HERO, PROBABLY DA BEST MUSICIAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. THAT IS WHAT EVERYBODY SHOULD BE LOOKING AT! OK THE FACT HE WAS ON DRUGS DOES SUCK, BUT COME ON HE WAS IN THE SIXTIES!!!!! CUT THE MAN SOME SLACK, HE IS AN IDOL/ROLE MODEL FOR KIDS, AND ADULTS EVERYWHERE. I AM INCLUDED. WHEN I GROW UP, I KNOW I CAN NEVER BE AS GREAT AS HIM, BUT I CAN TRY. SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY IS A MUSICAL HERO, AND THAT IS WHAT HE SHOULD BE REMEMBERED AS. NOT AS A POTHEAD, OR ACIDHEAD. SURE HE WAS, BUT THATS NOT DOMINANTLY WHAT HE WAS!!!! SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY, YOU TRULY DO ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know I believe you can read anything that you want to into the lyrics of a song. Like I think the lyrics to Fool On The Hill are written for the new messiah,but Im sure the meaning was written for something else. I also believe the Beatles were phophets in another life. But hey I can believe what I want to.

This article starts off well but then little extras are introduced (eg. May Pang never claimed they took acid before they went to see Bowie!) and finally towards the end we have Paul McCartney writing Jimmy McCulloch’s prophetic lyrics (clue: Paul didn’t write them.) about his own OD death. Just heard a new programme about that very subject with Paul lamenting that he can’t go back in time and point the lyrics out to Jimmy (a mere 26 when he copped it).

The thing that people don’t quite get about Macca is that he’s into rock’n’roll itself, not the rock’n’roll lifestyle pose which requires excess as default.
If the truth be known (and these days it just might be), there are more people quietly having a puff and a shroom and whatever without any problems than there are people driving off cliffs on acid.
Not that even the pro-Drugs press wants to admit it.

Thus, Macca has lived a life where he’s managed to combine child-rearing with drugs as if it were combining it with tea-drinking. Which is, of course, SHOCKINGLY POSSIBLE

paul seems to give you a insight to pleasure and love.
gives you enjoyment,
his songs are progressive from the McCartney album on up.
try to follow them,he will lead you thru twists and loops
the melody’s, being nailed,the time it took you to understand his sound,you will see what it was like to see him expand his creative Beatle consciousness .
as it fades into the sunset.
now we have paul,and everythings ok
Everythings okay,Yessssssssssssssssss